CovidbaseAU, a popular covid-tracker in Australia, launched in April 2021. And according to The Guardian, it's one of the "most authoritative Covid-19 tracking sites" in the country. But the brains behind the site were anonymous, until Wednesday, when the public found out the site was started and run by three young teenagers, ages 14 and 15.
They decided to reveal themselves on the site's Twitter (@covidbaseau) account after getting their first Moderna Covid shot. Posting a cute photo of themselves, bandaids stuck to their arms, holding their new vax cards, the kids wrote:
"BOOM! 12-15s can get the [syringe emoji]
Today the three of us who run @covidbaseau, Jack, Wesley and Darcy, had our first dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Thought this would be a good time to share who we really are.
Thrilled that we will finally be included in our data!"
From The Guardian:
The trio, who have been running CovidbaseAU, became part of their own statistics after getting their first doses of the Moderna vaccine in Melbourne.
The identities of the brains trust behind CovidbaseAU had not been public before Thursday afternoon, when 14-year-old Wesley with Jack and Darcy, both 15, tweeted a photograph of themselves.
The Melbourne teenagers told ABC TV on Friday the project was initially planned in February "just for fun". It was a means to pursue their interests in coding and the media.
"Being really interested in data, we decided to take what we've been doing and create something with it. We spend a lot of time on it to try to make it as comprehensive as possible," Jack said.
It's not an easy job, and CovidBaseAU requires a trio to run smoothly. Jack has always been the data guy, Darcy is the coder and Wesley is the all-rounder – keeping on top of events, making infographics and emojis.
"Right now, we're in Melbourne and we're in lockdown so that's sort of given us a lot of time to be able to do things more freely … we do get all our school stuff done, don't worry, but it's a bit a juggling act," Jack told ABC TV.
